


Dora

by notoriously



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Canon Compliant, Cute, Developing Relationship, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-16
Updated: 2017-06-19
Packaged: 2018-11-14 22:22:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11217444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notoriously/pseuds/notoriously
Summary: Meetings with the Order are long and boring, and Don't-Call-Me-Nymphadora Tonks doesn't do long and boring. She takes some time out of her duties to carefully consider Remus Lupin, and he quite-significantly-less-carefully considers the name that leaves his mouth when addressing her.





	1. Tonks, to Remus

**Author's Note:**

> I'm dusting off my fanfiction skills for the first time in the best part of five years, and writing in the HP realm for the first time in more like seven. I've also only very recently gotten into these characters and this relationship so forgive me for any discrepancies!

 

She was _so bored._

Planning and strategizing were two things that Tonks hated. She knew it was the nature of the beast, both as an Auror and as a member of the Order. It was the way things had to be – they couldn’t just go barging in, wands ablaze and hope for things to turn out. But the way things had to be was so _goddamn boring._

She was listening very, _very_ vaguely to the planning happening at the other end of the table, focussed more intently on picking at a few loose threads edging a rip in her jacket. She pulled a couple out, dropping the threads onto the carpet behind her. She then turned her attention to her hair, examining some stray split ends – of course, she could always just have transformed them away, but she was mildly fond of the way they contributed to her look. They could stay, for the time being. She was about to turn her attention to a small part of the table before her that was splintering away when her ears perked up at Sirius’ voice.

“—Tonks will go along with you.”

Tonks looked up, blinking her eyes and desperately attempting to fake her way through a facial expression. _Yes, of course I know where I’m going, who I’m going with and what I’m doing. Please, I’m a professional._

She knew none of those things, and it was evident on her face.

“Good. We’ll head out tonight and report back with the reconnaissance information by dawn.” Her saviour came in the form of Remus Lupin, who she looked at in turn. It was only evident because he was looking straight at her, but she could see there was a little knowing, almost mischievous glint in his eye. She was sure nobody else could see it, and was sure he had saved her from the embarrassment of her own distracted oblivion. Her expression was thankful, her eyes still locked onto Remus’ and – _how long had she been staring, again?_

To break the gaze, she gave him a little wink and a click of her tongue.

“Sounds like a plan,” she remarked, resting her elbow on the table and propping her head up on her hand. If she didn’t know better, she could have sworn she felt a little heat from her cheeks against her fingers – it was probably nothing, her hand was probably cold. Sirius paused for a moment, giving a lightning-quick glance between Tonks and Remus. By the time he’d done that, though, Remus was already looking back at him, hands clasped on the table. There was a ghost of a smile lingering on the corner of his mouth faced towards Tonks – nothing but a coincidence, she was sure.

“… _Right_ … I suppose that’s sorted. Anyway,” Sirius continued, and it gave Tonks license to completely tune out again. And perhaps now she had a proper reason to tune out – she was to be sent on a mission that night with Remus.  They seemed to have been going on a number of missions here and there together as of late, and Tonks wasn’t going to complain. Remus was an incredibly interesting man, which was saying something, because Tonks generally found a lot of people boring. _Especially_ when those people wore cardigans at the rate Remus Lupin did.

As the meeting continued, she found herself still spaced out from the plotting itself, but somewhat more intently focused in on Remus. Her head remained in her hand as her eyes wandered across his face, settling on his lips as he spoke. He was so eloquent, and it was something that Tonks greatly admired. She was witty because she had to be, because if she didn’t make fun of her own clumsiness at times then someone else would. But Remus, well, occasionally he would just come out with things that sounded as if they were spoken by philosophers eons ago. They never were, though, no – they were straight out of his head – and, to add to that, they were always so _genuine._ If anyone else spoke those words, Tonks was sure she’d roll her eyes and shake her head but when he said them, she was almost… inspired?

At first, she had wondered why she felt that way only about him. In the past few weeks, she was sure she’d realised the answer.

Remus kept on talking, obviously actively engaging in the discussion. Tonks noted how on top of things Remus always seemed to be – she knew of his condition and his history, or the basics, at least. But despite all of that, he managed to be so strong for so many people. Tonks, on the other hand, felt like she’d lose her head if it weren’t attached to her body. Perhaps she’d almost be as competent as Remus when she got to be his age. She quietly hoped he’d still be in her life by then to see.

As he spoke, she indulged for just a moment in taking in the way he looked. His scars were obvious, there was no use pretending they weren’t. They marked his face, and she had noticed some on his hands. She imagined there were more, what with the way he kept himself almost fully covered at all times. Long sleeves and trousers even on the warmest of days. Tonks couldn’t imagine. She had scars, they all did, but none like his. They all knew it. Another thing of note about Remus’ appearance was his prematurely greying hair – she had never gotten around to asking exactly how old he was, but she knew the flecks of grey in his fine, brown hair were early, for certain. She could truly never imagine herself with grey hair – she had trouble enough remembering that her natural hair was brown, most days.

Those two things were perhaps most distinct about Remus, but there were also more things that Tonks noticed about him. His hair was flecked with grey but his beard was not, and even though it was slightly scraggly, Tonks didn’t mind it. Not that she thought he grew his facial hair for her, nor was any of his appearance catering to her desires, but… they seemed to match up more than coincidentally. Again, most people who wore drab clothing with the regularity of Remus were not people that Tonks found interesting or handsome, but somehow he was both. He was tall and refined – though that refinement was sometimes obscured just by the nature of Remus’ life. He had seen too much, _been_ too much, and that changes a person. It changes their personality, that was for sure. But it also changes the way they walk, the way they carry themselves, the way they wake up and get ready in the morning. Perhaps it was the contrast to her own self that drew Tonks to Remus so profoundly – and the contrast was most certainly there.

Tonks wouldn’t be caught _dead_ in tweed.

She didn’t find herself looking at his appearance for too long, however. She found him attractive, that much she had established within minutes of meeting him. That wasn’t the difficult part. She focused in on the meeting for a moment if only to listen to his voice. It was one of the many things that Tonks had been made to add to her _So You’re Attracted To Remus Lupin_ list, and that list was perhaps the most confusing. Because it was more than a physical attraction. It was a _crush._

Her feelings for Remus had come about gradually but constantly – every time they left one another’s company she felt a gentle pang that only left her when he came back. Honestly, it was almost a little childish, she thought. Who even got crushes anymore? Tonks had found herself in various compromising positions with wizards, witches and Muggles alike, but to really have these _feelings_? Far less common. The closest she had ever come to having a crush on someone before this was when she rather fancied Gwenog Jones and had a quick Holyhead Harpies phase a couple of years after leaving Hogwarts. To be fair, she still _sort of_ had that crush, but so did anyone with blood in their veins and a brain in their head. There was once a rumour that Tonks had a quick snog with Gwenog once post-match after a Harpies victory – it was largely unfounded, and largely perpetuated by Tonks herself.

But that wasn’t the point nowadays. And while Tonks usually found herself casually engaging with others in fun and fleeting ways, she had been doing so less these days. Of course, because of everything happening and the state of things, but also because she had just been less inclined. Her wayward eye had been focused, she thought. She snickered a little at the thought of _her_ wayward eye – you see, because Mad-Eye’s infamous mad-eye – look, it may have been funnier in her head, but the laugh was out loud. Her attention was snapped back by a small clear of the throat.

“Nymph --“

As if he could read her mind, Mad-Eye was the one who spoke up. Tonks shot him a glare before he could get out her name, but he was otherwise cut off by another voice.

“Alastor, there’s really no need. We’re finished at any rate,” Remus remarked, looking to Tonks for a split second as his voice trailed off. Tonks gave pause as he slowed before looking back to Mad-Eye, smirking small and giving a noncommittal shrug.

“Finished at any rate,” she parroted Remus’ words as she stood from her seat.

“I’m glad you amuse yourself so, but it wouldn’t kill you to pay attention once in a blue moon,” Mad-Eye remarked, shaking his head before hobbling from the room, muttering something else under his breath. Tonks was pretty firmly used to it by this point, and she wandered around the table to sit herself on the top of it beside where Remus was standing.

“Honestly, who pissed in his Pixie Puffs this morning?” She queried, a small cheeky grin making itself apparent on her face as she adjusted her boot laces. She caught the faintest laugh leaving Remus’ lips, one that he covered by glancing upwards and scratching absent-mindedly at his beard. She wasn’t sure why he felt the need to hide it, as the room had been fully vacated apart from the two of them.

“He means well,” he replied, to which Tonks rolled her eyes.

“I’ve met bloody Grindylows more well-meaning than Mad-Eye, Remus,” she couldn’t help herself from laughing. None of her words were in earnest – everyone knew how close she and Mad-Eye truly were. But if she couldn’t gently mock her mentor once in a while, who _could_ she mock? Still, the remark had Remus laughing a little again – she’d never heard him truly laugh, and honestly, sometimes she wasn’t sure he had the ability. She truly loved making people laugh, but she’d long since learned that with Remus, a snicker here and there was almost as good as she could ask for.

His laughter settled quickly, and Tonks punctuated it with a small sigh. Silence followed, broken only by Tonks scuffing her boot against the bench it was rested on. God, now _this_ was the worst part of a crush – silences were all awkward, and with Remus, there was a lot of them. He was an introspective man, and Tonks liked to let him just stand and ruminate in silence sometimes. Perhaps it was an effort to coax out another of his incredulous and impressive quotes. But Tonks, god, Tonks _hated_ silence. There was a pull in her to always Fill it with something – words, gestures, a well-timed transformation. She thought sometimes than maybe she wasn’t naturally as clumsy as she made out to be, but instead she had learnt it as another way to stay loud whenever possible. She was very out there, from her electric hair to her boot-clad toes.

Remus was not – he was a shadow, he blended into the background in muted tones, both in appearance and in nature. And she understood, she understood completely. There were times in his life where he didn’t have control over himself. The ability of self-control, she was sure, was incredibly important to him.

Still, silence was boring.

“ _So…_ uh… look, don’t want to let the cat out the bag, _but,_ ” Tonks leant back on her hands, tilting her head towards Remus, “I haven’t the foggiest clue as to what we’re actually doing tonight. Don’t suppose you’d care to fill me in?” Remus managed a small smirk, folding his arms and revealing that the elbow of his cardigan was worn almost all the way through. It made her feel somewhat guilty about her own clothes – she had spent years purposefully making rips and holes in her garments when people like Remus didn’t really have a choice in the matter. She shook her head almost imperceptibly so shift her focus back to Remus’ words.

“You mean to say you weren’t paying attention, Dora –“ Remus stopped almost immediately after the diminutive had come from his lips. Even Tonks sat up a little straighter at that – only her father had ever referred to her in that way before. She couldn’t hide the unease that played about her face for a moment, but she regretted it once she saw Remus physically take a step back.

“I – sorry, I – that’s not –“ The words were cluttered leaving his mouth – he wasn’t stammering so much as starting his sentence over and over. Tonks immediately shook her head, sitting up straight.

“No, no! No, it’s – it’s totally fine,” she reached up to push some of her hair behind her ear. The colour turned very subtly darker, a change that was easily distracted by her running her hand through it a moment later. “Don’t really mind being called anything so long as it’s not – y’know.” Remus still seemed a little uneasy at the slip-up, but Tonks was far more focused on reducing his disquiet than working out just _why_ it unsettled him.

“ _Remus,_ it’s _fine._ Trust me, if your name was longer I’d have given you all sorts of nicknames by now. _Relax,_ ” she laughed, tilting her head in recollection for a second, “besides. It’s not worse than my full name and it’s _certainly_ not worse than _Nymphy,_ which some Slytherin arsehole tried to make catch on in fifth year. So, hey.” Her smile widened and she could practically see Remus calm in front of her eyes, his shoulders relaxing ever so slightly. Silence hung over them for another moment, and Tonks let Remus have this one. After what seemed like an eternity for her, he spoke up again.

“… Nymphy _is_ terrible,” he murmured, and Tonks smirked in response, her eyes lighting up once more.

“Mmhm, it really, _truly_ is,” she laughed small, sighing and stretching a little, “ _god,_ Order meetings are long.” Remus stepped forward again, closing some of the distance he had put between them as he nodded.

“They are, but we must do the work if we want the best results,” he mused, picking a stray bit of fluff from his sleeve. Tonks smirked a little more deviously.

“That better not be a dig at my not paying attention,” she remarked, raising an eyebrow and leaning in towards Remus. He shook his head.

“Me? I would never,” he retorted, which had Tonks giving a small snicker of her own. See, he was funny, too – perhaps not as funny as Tonks, but she thought herself to be quite the comedienne. It was more important that Remus didn’t always take himself as seriously as someone who didn’t know him might think he did. He certainly _looked_ like a man who was all business all the time, and sometimes he was. But the more Tonks got to know him and got to know the people who knew him, the more she found him to be the person that others needed him to be.

She certainly hoped that it left room in his life for him to be who he needed to be for himself, but she had a sad suspicion that it was low on his priority list. Remus was something of a self-deprecating man, and years of being shunned and accosted as a monster would do that to a person, Tonks supposed.

“Mmhm, sure,” she nodded, hopping off the table and brushing off her backside. She turned away from Remus, and when she turned back, her face had taken on the unmistakable visage of her mentor, though her hand covered where his notorious namesake would be.

“I’ve got my _eye on you,_ Lupin,” she grumbled in a gruff voice. Remus, taken unawares, let out a small snort before a genuine laugh bubbled from his lips. It took Tonks just as unaware, and Mad-Eye’s hair appeared to turn a blinding neon pink before she abruptly assumed her own appearance once more. She couldn’t stop the smile from appearing on her face at Remus’ laughter – it was one of those uncontrollable, mouth-half-open smiles that was filled with genuine glee. She felt the heat rising in her cheeks again and leant over to nudge Remus in the arm.

“Alright, come on, as much as it pains me to say, enough messing around,” she remarked, turning to go and lead back around the table, “you have to fill me in on this mission, ‘cause I still haven’t got a clue about what we’re actually up to.” Remus allowed a smile to remain settled on his face as he went to follow her out of the room. She turned around to lean against the doorframe, tapping her foot as she waited for Remus.

“C’mon, slowpoke,” she teased.

“Have you ever stopped to think it’s you who might be going too fast,” Remus took a small pause, one that Tonks noticed, “… Dora?” She smirked, that rush of slightly darker pink travelling from the roots to the tips of her hair.

“… Not once, Remus.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm thinking I'll write another chapter of this but from Remus' POV. I like to give both characters in a pairing agency because equal happy relationships are where it's at, folks! I'm floating around at soarlikeacomet on tumblr if you want to contact/throw down with me.


	2. Remus, to Tonks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This ended up a little longer than the first chapter! The dialogue is the same, the rest is Remus' POV. Enjoy!

 

He wasn’t focused.

Remus liked to stay on top of things when it came to Order meetings, and the other members often relied on his perspective. He was good at giving it, he was good at organising, and honestly he felt it was his duty to give it his full attention. The Gryffindor burden to bear, he supposed. But this meeting had been different. Almost every meeting had been different since Alastor had introduced the Order members to his plucky protégée, Nymphadora Tonks.

From the second Remus watched the woman glare up at her mentor, hair turning fire-truck red as she scolded him for the use of her rather elaborate first name, Remus realised two things. One – she must have been a Metamorphmagus, and he wasn’t sure he’d ever seen one in the flesh before. Two – despite everything, despite Voldemort’s re-emergence, he couldn’t help but be somewhat entertained at her bold move.

From there, that amusement developed. If Remus was being honest, it was developing at a ridiculous pace. He found that he noticed more of the little things she did here and there. He wasn’t sure he’d ever seen her go more than half an hour without tripping over, breaking or misplacing something. She rarely opened her mouth without something sarcastic or funny to say, but he could tell she was sharp. _She_ could tell she was sharp, too. She was so confident in her abilities that she was able to act childishly in front of the Order without them fearing she couldn’t properly do her duties. In that lied another of her virtues – she was eminently trustworthy, but she never let it stifle the hip air she always exuded. She was effortlessly trendy, that was another thing. Remus was many things, but he had never come within a Gobstone’s toss of trendy. Maybe his love of playing Gobstones was one of the reasons _why,_ but that was a different trial entirely. He supposed that Nymphadora – no, _Tonks,_ she liked to be called Tonks – probably did not like Gobstones at all. It was a children’s game, he had little business still being fond of it. Then again, maybe she _did_ enjoy it. She seemed the type to be able to make anything cool, and she was nothing but kind to all people, strange hobbies included, so --

See? This was _ridiculous_ , he thought. Every time he started thinking about her, he could then not _stop_ thinking about her. And therein lied the reason he had not been as focused as he would have liked to be during these recent Order meetings. Or rather, that reason sat, across and two seats down from him, picking at her jacket. At first, Remus had wondered why her clothes tended to be ripped and worn. She was an Auror after all, and with a well-paying position like that, surely she could afford clothes in a better condition than the ones she wore. It was only after a while that he realised it was a conscious choice, a style that some chose. It truly made him feel slightly better about his own worn clothing, though he was sure Tonks didn’t know that. He didn’t miss the way she always stopped messing with the tears and rips in her clothing when talking to him.

“Remus,” Sirius spoke up, and though Remus hadn’t been fully distracted, it took him a second to fully focus back in. Sirius had been outlining the plans for the next day or so, and those plans entailed trying to keep track of any and all known Death Eaters, particular those more erratic ones who they suspected Voldemort to call upon doe to their lesser known status. “we’ve finally received word that Rowle has settled – I presume I can count on you to monitor him tonight?”

“Of course,” Remus nodded, “but I imagine I’ll need some assistance in case he decides on moving again.”

“Yes, he has a nasty habit of that,” Sirius replied, clasping his hands and resting them on the table. Remus followed his gaze as it moved around the table, intently watching it land on the inattentive pink-haired woman a few seats away from him. “Tonks will go along with you.”

Remus watched as she looked up, and he had to suppress a smile. It wasn’t a self-satisfied one – he absolutely detested the feeling of being put on the spot due to daydreaming. He just had full confidence that whatever Tonks did next would at the very least break up an otherwise monotonous meeting. He watched her widen her eyes and tilt her head down slightly, an uneasy smile making its way onto her lips. Remus knew that, had he said nothing, she would have found her way through the situation, but perhaps he could make it easier for her.

“Good. We’ll head out tonight and report back with the reconnaissance information by dawn,” he remarked, and his eyes caught hers. Perhaps he wasn’t hiding his smile as well as he thought because he could swear that Tonks caught it before the grateful expression made its way onto her face. Still, that expression was welcome and filled Remus with an uncanny warmth, one which was only amplified when she winked and clicked her tongue. See? So cool, so aloof and really quite attractive, not that he’d ever admit that. She surely wouldn’t want to hear that.  Certainly not from the likes of him.

 “Sounds like a plan,” Tonks remarked, and by this time Remus had to really hide his smile. He had to do so quickly, because he knew his gaze had lingered long enough on Tonks for Sirius to notice. The last thing he needed was for Sirius to have any more evidence regarding a potential interest between him and _anyone._ He wasn’t sure he’d ever hear the end of it. To keep Sirius off his scent for a little longer, he broke his gaze from Tonks’ quickly, looking back to Sirius before his gaze returned. The smile on his face was faint, and he hoped visible only to Tonks herself. He watched Sirius’ puzzled expression dissolve into a more neutral one. They just needed to get on with things.

“… _Right…_ I suppose that’s sorted. Anyway,” Sirius sighed, “there isn’t a huge amount we can actually _do_ until we get that reconnaissance.”

“We’ve got to figure out what to _do_ with the information, Sirius,” Mad-Eye responded, and Sirius’ gaze flicked over to his. He raised an eyebrow.

“I _was_ aware of that, believe it or not,” Sirius retorted. Remus gave an inaudible sigh – he had never been the argumentative type, and he knew Sirius and Alastor were not _truly_ arguing. But they were both somewhat inflammatory people. He figured his move would be futile, but nevertheless, he tried to interject.

“I suppose the exact nature of what we do is dictated by the information we f –“ Remus was, expectedly, cut off.

“You’ve got to actually _say it,_ Sirius,” Mad-Eye bit back, “blind belief hasn’t gotten _any_ of us this far.”

“Yes, I know, _constant vigilance_ has, hasn’t it, Mad-Eye?”

“It’s gotten us a damn sight further than some of your bloody plans would have, Sirius –“

Remus sat back a little, running a hand through his hair to neaten it before leaning forward against the table. He occasionally muttered to himself, because gods above, he was the only one listening there and then. There was a part of him, a very strong part of him that wanted to glance over at Tonks, see what she was doing – was she playing with her clothes again? Was she watching the ridiculous encounter unfold? Was she… was she looking at him?

Surely not. He needed to _stop thinking that._

He stayed quiet and composed, focusing on looking at the two bickering men. But no matter how much he may have been looking, he couldn’t stop thinking about her. Sitting down the other end of the table – if he were a more confident man, maybe he would have just shuffled down the table to talk to her. Leave the fools to their squabbling for a while. Perhaps it was not a lack of confidence in himself, though. Perhaps it was more of a lack of confidence that she would even want to talk to him.

Remus considered himself quite a boring man, and Tonks was everything but that. She was positively vibrant in everything she did, from her actions right up to the colour of her hair. But moreover, in the pursuit of being exciting, she was one of the truest Hufflepuffs he had ever met. He remembered once that on the way back from one of their assignments they saw a wizard corner a little girl who they had watched leave an affluent looking home. Remus was the one who cast a Stinging Hex on the wizard, which was more than enough to deter him and have him rushing away. From there, Remus went to turn to Tonks, about to remark that he was glad that they were here to stop anything sinister from happening. But Tonks was already making a move away from him, and it was then that he noticed the little girl sobbing into the crook of her arm.

He remained hidden from sight, but watched as Tonks walked to the girl and leant right down, putting a hand on her arm. She seemed nervous, but the older woman calmed her down in mere seconds, transforming her face to the bloated visage of her now departed attacker. Remus could just overhear Tonks’ voice turning to a rather ridiculous one, mocking the man to the little girl’s amusement. She stayed with her for a few more moments, even at one point casting _colovaria_ to temporarily change the little girl’s hair to the same vivacious purple hers was that day. It was only once she was sure the girl had calmed down that she stood, but even then, she walked off with the girl. Remus stayed put, and after ten minutes Tonks returned, having escorted the little girl to her desired destination. His focus had been to dispatch the opponent, and hers had been to ensure the safety of the victim. Both equally noble and necessary, he had thought. That was the day he decided they worked well together, and also one of many days where he fell for her a little more.

He found himself sitting there and recounting the whole story in his head, as he had several times before. It was perhaps perfect timing – as his daydreaming came to a close, he vaguely tuned back in to Alastor and Sirius settling their debate.

“Right, well – Remus, you were saying?” Alastor looked to Remus, and it took him a moment to regain his bearings. He wasn’t sure how long it had been since he tried to speak up. Perhaps seconds, minutes, hours? He tended to get lost in his thoughts more with Tonks around. He cleared his throat and nodded.

“Yes, well, I was only saying that what we do depends on the information we get. If Rowle looks to be settling in one place, we must presume that Voldemort requires his services sooner rather than later. If he moves again, then we have time, but we continue to track him.” Remus clasped his hands again, as it prevented him from waving them around as he spoke. He didn’t seem the type to talk with his hands, but it was a habit he had, and he noted that some people found it off-putting. And by some people, he meant that once at Hogwarts, a Ravenclaw student had commented that “Lupin’s the only boy that can put your eye out with a sentence,” and ever since then he had been conscious of talking with his hands. It was hard to forget, sometimes.

“Beautiful. Great. I suppose that us done, then? Could’ve had this all over and done with if we’d just listened to you from the get g –“ Alastor was cut off by a small snort of a giggle coming from his protégée further down the bench. He snapped his head towards her.

 “Nymph --“

Remus’ eyes flicked straight to Tonks as soon as he heard Alastor begin the forbidden name. Sometimes, Remus wondered if it was just her name in its entirety that bothered her, or if it was any part of it. Personally, he thought something shortened, like Dora, would suit quite well. But then was not the time for that. Tonks was already glaring at Alastor, and he noticed the red tinge emanating subtly at the roots of her hair.

 “Alastor, there’s really no need. We’re finished at any rate,” he cut in, watching Tonks as her expression and the scarlet of her hair both settled down.

“Finished at any rate,” Tonks copied his words, and it almost felt as if they were mischievious students giving a teacher grief for a moment. Remus had dealt with only a few of those in his tenure as Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, but he knew the feeling.

“I’m glad you amuse yourself so, but it wouldn’t kill you to pay attention once in a blue moon,” Alastor rebutted, and as he made his way from the room Remus thought he could hear him making another comment. However, his focus shifted as he noticed Tonks making his way over to her.

“Honestly, who pissed in his Pixie Puffs this morning?” Her words were quick-witted as ever, and he gave a little laugh. He didn’t want to overstep his bounds, though, and he brought a hand up to his face as casually as possible to hide it.

“He means well,” was his reply. He was inclined to defend Alastor, even if only because he was an intimidating man. But Tonks had no such reservations.

“I’ve met bloody Grindylows more well-meaning than Mad-Eye, Remus,” she remarked, and it was so offhand that this time he couldn’t hide his laugh. It was still only small, but it was audible, and this time he didn’t hide it. Surely two humorous comments in a row meant it was okay to laugh? People didn’t often bother trying to make Remus laugh – many figured him too miserable to care for jokes. But who didn’t like to laugh, honestly? And jokes about Dark creatures, well. Tonks was deft at knowing the way to Remus’ heart, apparently.

They settled into silence rather quickly, and he let his eyes flicker to her as she looked around the room. It wasn’t hard to tell that she wasn’t a fan of silences, but he relished in them. He rarely looked to fill them, but instead took in everything that he couldn’t while he was talking. And in this case, it was the way that the woman beside him looked. He certainly tried not to stare at her – for one, he didn’t want to seem strange. But whenever he looked at her, he noticed something else endearing, something else attractive.

That day, when she scuffed her boot against the bench, it gave him license to look down at her shoes. They were well-worn and scuffed, and he was sure they and their owner had been through a lot together. His eyes flicked up to her legs for a split second – again, there were rips in her tights, as with the rest of her clothing. He realised that perhaps his gaze lingered on her legs for too long, and it abruptly moved up to her face. And for a moment, he looked at her while she was looking elsewhere. Of course, Tonks could change her appearance at will, and most found that to be the most interesting thing about the way she looked. But as his eyes flickered over her face, he could confirm that he was not one of those – Metamorphmagi were interesting, but she was more so, with or without her natural-born abilities.

 “ _So…_ uh… look, don’t want to let the cat out the bag, _but,_ ” Tonks spoke up, and Remus almost jumped, “I haven’t the foggiest clue as to what we’re actually doing tonight. Don’t suppose you’d care to fill me in?” Her casual tone calmed him down immediately, as it almost always did, and he spoke without thinking.

“You mean to say you weren’t paying attention, Dora –“

Oh god.

_Oh god._

He had never called her that to her face – he barely even called her that in his _head,_ so why did his mouth choose now to betray him?!

“I – sorry, I – that’s not –“ He couldn’t get the sentence out of his mouth – of course _it_ would not flow from his lips as freely as that little unsanctioned nickname – but he slowed and trailed off when Tonks shook her head.

“No, no! No, it’s – it’s totally fine,” Tonks reassured him, but there was still some trepidation in his expression. “Don’t really mind being called anything so long as it’s not – y’know.” Remus obviously couldn't shake the concern from his face – the name seemed too _intimate,_ there was no way she wanted to think that he was _that comfortable_ with her.

“ _Remus,_ it’s _fine._ Trust me, if your name was longer I’d have given you all sorts of nicknames by now. _Relax,_ ” her voice was soothing and genuinely reassuring – Remus found in situations like this, people would patronise him more often than not, “besides. It’s not worse than my full name and it’s _certainly_ not worse than _Nymphy,_ which some Slytherin arsehole tried to make catch on in fifth year. So, hey.”

That name _did_ sound far more atrocious than Dora. And she hadn’t expressed any distaste at the name itself. He let silence hang between them for a moment again – it was a safety blanket, it let him regroup before deciding on what to say.

 “… Nymphy _is_ terrible,” he finally managed. His heart swelled just a fraction when he saw Tonks smirk. It was almost like the light behind her eyes returned, and just for a moment, Remus indulged in letting himself believe it was because he was cheerful again.

“Mmhm, it really, _truly_ is,” Tonks managed before stretching, and Remus averted his eyes quickly after catching a glimpse of her midriff – surely she knew he would see, right? “ _God,_ Order meetings are long.”

“They are, but we must do the work if we want the best results.” He was referring, of course, to her famed distraction in meetings, confidence bolstered a little by her cheering him up.

“That better not be a dig at my not paying attention.” Tonks’ reply came with a smirk.

“Me? I would never,” he retorted, a wider smile making its way onto his face.

“Mmhm, sure,” Tonks remarked, disbelievingly. Remus stepped back to let her get down from the table, but his eyebrows dipped as she turned away from him. Had he said something?

 “I’ve got my _eye on you,_ Lupin!”

As she turned around and revealed Alastor’s face, Remus snorted. And usually, he would be self-conscious about that, but that was perhaps the thing he liked most about Tonks. She made him feel at ease – she made him feel how he imagined other people felt. How normal people felt. Though, he suspected, if he told her that, she would ask him what normal was anyway. She didn’t care about normal, and whatever normal was, she certainly wasn’t it either. There was a big part of him that was so very, _very_ concerned about his feelings for Tonks.

But as he laughed and she laughed in turn, there was an even bigger part of him that just _did not care_ about that insecurity. 

“Alright, come on, as much as it pains me to say, enough messing around, you have to fill me in on this mission, ‘cause I still haven’t got a clue about what we’re actually up to.” A whisper of Tonks’ laughter remained in her voice, and Remus’ own cheerfulness was buoyed by it. He nodded, making his way around the table after her. Apparently, not quickly enough.

“C’mon, slowpoke!” She was so cheerful and easy going that he decided on taking a chance. It wasn’t a huge one in the scheme of things, but for him it was quite significant.

“Have you ever stopped to think it’s you who might be going too fast,” he took a quick breath in.

“… Dora?”

He watched her smirk, and for the first time he noticed her hair change colour at something he’d said.

“… Not once, Remus.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was fun to write! I got pretty heavily into it so I wouldn't be surprised if I get to writing some more stuff soon. Thanks for reading!


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